About Art Grants

About Art Grants

Kiwiburn has an annual art grant scheme where a small number of grants are made available for the purpose of partially funding specific art projects at Kiwiburn. These grants will be awarded primarily for interactive art that is based on this years’ art theme, although your art project doesn’t necessarily need to be in theme to receive a grant.

We look for works that stand out as a public contribution to Kiwiburn. We do not fund performance art but we may fund props required for interactive public performance. We do not fund domes, tents, teepees or stages and ask that if your project must be contained in a structure, it be handmade and related to its contents. We may fund art cars, mobile art, and art created by theme camps, based on individual merits, public interactivity and artistic relevance.

The budget for art grants changes from year to year, and the criteria are listed below. If you are interested in applying for a grant, you’ll find the latest information on the Applying for Art Grants page.

Grants are assessed on the following points:

Interactivity with people and the environment
Interactive art is our particular obsession. It transforms participants into active contributors to your creative process. It transcends the static conception of an art object that is contemplated by a detached audience. Interaction may be achieved in variety of ways. Sometimes, the mere act of encounter is sufficient, as in the case of work spread out within a special field of space participants explore. Artwork may impart a gift or token. Likewise, works may be designed to receive something from people.

Works may be activated by participants or by forces of nature, or they may function as social environments. Interactive artworks may also be made mobile, bringing an experience to passers by. When art is placed within an interactive environment like Kiwiburn, participants will invent unexpected forms of interaction, and you should be prepared for this. However, with planning, we have found nearly any form of conventional art can be engendered with an interactive aspect.

Relevance to theme
Relevance is about pertinence and connectedness. Most Kiwiburn themes are quite open to interpretation and intended as a springboard for creativity, so how your art is relevant to the theme is up to you. What we’d like to see is your interpretation of how your art interacts with the theme based in your own paradigm. We ask you to provide an explanation of your art with your submission to help us see its relevance in the overall space of Kiwiburn.

Wow factor
Wow factor is the degree to which the first impression of something makes a person say “Wow!” You know when you randomly come across something someone’s made, and you stand there with your jaw on the floor, trying to find words to articulate what you’re feeling? That’s what we’re looking for here. Whether it’s an amazing application of a simple idea, an abstract concept made simple, a new take on an old theme, or just something really really cool/funky/shiny, if it makes us go “Wow” we want it at Kiwiburn.

Ingenuity
Ingenuity is what happens in the space between a problem and a solution. Ingenuity isn’t a linear process but involves various dimensions of human cognition, intention, learning and the creation of novelty. These processes interact with each other as we try out ideas, fail, learn, modify, and try again. New ways of organising ourselves, new ways of communicating, new ways of making things work. Kiwis are famous for this, burners are famous for this – show us your ingenuity!

Cost effectiveness
What we’re looking for here is ‘Bang for the Buck’. We might be artists, but we’re also practical. Does the amount you’ve asked for realistically coincide with what will be produced? Is there evidence of use of recycled and naturally-sourced materials? Have you borrowed your mate’s tools instead of buying new ones? While we understand that any creation will cost money to make, we’d like you to show us how your art will be produced in the non-consumerist spirit of Kiwiburn by avoiding unnecessary expense, and how the cost will be used to create an experience for the participants interacting with your piece.